And I felt like I was going to diiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiieeeeeeeeeeeee. But I didn't - yay! The Gibbon Experience was certainly an experience, although not the one I thought I was signing up for. To be fair, our group had bad luck. There is normally a truck that drives you the five miles (up and down some serious hills) to the drop off point, from which you walk 2 hours, straight uphill. Unfortunately, both walking into and out of the jungle the truck was unable to make it across the river, so our group had an eight and a half hour walk in and a seven hour walk out to and fro the treehouses. Not since Outward Bound have I been so far out of my element and in so far over my head. We're talking about serious trekking here through mud and streams and leeches and facing walls of mountain that you just have to get right over. I started focusing on mere survival about three hours after setting out.
When I arrived at the kitchen on the first day at 6:30 p.m. I opted to sleep there rather than continuing on in the dark. This was a great choice as I spent the night with a Macaque monkey who became a good friend, amidst her attempts to make off with my camera, sunscreen, etc. The next day I was extremely "knackered" (as the English say) and just chilled out in the treehouse. I did manage a few zip lines (wonderfully thrilling!) but otherwise just rested my feet which were completely cut up from the jungle shoes recommended by the Gibbon Experience folks. The following day I was most apprehensive about the walk back, which turned out to be quite a bit easier than the walk in. Still, I was well glad to be back in town last night.
One of the best parts of the "experience" was my group, which was just a great group of folks. And I did hear the Gibbons sing both mornings I was out there, a total other-worldly and beautiful sound.
Here in Houay Xai, several of us from the Gibbon group are staying at the same guesthouse, the owner of which, Mr. Sing, is fantastic. Since it's difficult to get to the Laos capital Vientienne (where I need to arrange my Vietnamese visa) and tomorrow is Friday, I have a little time to kill. Mr. Sing recommended that we take a "car trek" to see some Northern Laotian villages and a waterfall on the way to Luang Namtha - this sounds just about right on time. I'm heading off with one of the other guys from the group tomorrow. We have agreed that we will walk a maximum of 2 hours and ask for it to be mostly flat!
Otherwise, I've managed to get the mud off of most of my belongings (no small feat) and (similar to Outward Bound) I am glad to have completed the Gibbon Experience, even if it's not something I would want to repeat.
